Bishaadkaal reacts to bloodshed

Still from the play

'Gurudev Rabindranath, we have dubbed you as the greatest poet, but have not even understood the essense of your writings. We feel ashamed'

The play Bishadkaal presents a true picture of the bloodshed going on since the beginning of human civilisation. The different rivers are witness to it. The story of King of Tripura, who halts the animal sacrifice, and his power struggle with the head priest results in further bloodshed in his kingdom. This runs parallel to the story of Shakespeare's Hamlet. The main characters of the women, Aparna and Ophelia, present the same politics in stark light.

'We see bloodshed everywhere, death everywhere, heaps of dead bodies in innumerable numbers, human beings are dying fighting their own kinds...all this disturbs me immensely. I have decided to push my objections towards this more strongly and loudly.' says Probir Guha, the director of the play.

The politics of religion and vested interests to retain power result in such drastic deaths, which have almost no consequences of the people who murder. The play presents these extremely horrific truths in the most poetic yet strong way. The play uses music as a character present throughout the story, as a part of the experience. The use of different instruments blend the two stories of different civilisations together and draw uncomparable parallels between human bloodshed throughout the world. The powerful performances also keep the viewer glued to the seat, with seemingly no language barrier, as it uses Bangla and English with Hindi.

It definitely affects the viewer deeply and changes the insensitivity spread towards such a horrifying act. The play was performed by Alternative Living Theatre, Kolkata on 13th January 2012 as part of the third day of the 18th National Theatre Festival 2012.